Way of the Burryman

I’ve met people displaced through time, that accounts for a certain type of haunting. Then there are the presences that cross other dimensions, parallel or otherwise.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Synopsis

Young Sam Bishop is at a crossroads with girlfriend Fiona: she’s staying in Scotland, he wants to travel the world. As the Burryman celebrations begin, ghosts haunt the Forth Bridge. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart arrives to investigate – and so does the Doctor…

Review

Way of the Burryman is the opening part to a story that brings the first series of the Ninth Doctor’s first series on audio, bringing him back face to face with not only one of his oldest friends but one of his oldest enemies in the shape of the Cybermen.

Sam Bishop and the Ninth Doctor

I am a big fan of this story and how Roy Gill has tied this location into the plot, as well as how he has integrated the characters into the story. It takes full advantage of being a two-part story, giving us development for Sam Bishop and his girlfriend Fiona. The story is really nicely paced and allowed breathing room to build up to the cliffhanger. I really like the fact that this mirrors the ideas of Eccleston’s Series One in the fact that the Doctor’s actions, by removing the last restriction that stops Kreel creating his army of Cybermen. The fallibility of the Doctor is what makes the character such an interesting hero and that he is able to make mistakes, albeit it you cannot argue that the Ninth Doctor’s hearts are not in the right place. The whole idea of the dying memories of the workers on the Forth Bridge being held used by a malevolent force is an interesting one, with these memories coming back as ghost-like beings and possessing people. Way of the Burryman is definitely keen to show that its writer has thought carefully about how to put across its issues and pace its story effectively.

With this story forming a two-part finale to the Ninth Doctor’s first series of audios, it does take time for quieter moments, and does not waste these. There is a lovely scene between the Doctor and the Brigadier, where they talk about why the Doctor has come looking for his old friend, and that the events of the previous story have had an impact on him. Roy Gill presents the Ninth Doctor as someone who is clearly scarred by his experience in the Time War and desperate for some comfort in his old friend. The prospect of there eventually being a day when the Brigadier is not going to be there is not a prospect that the Doctor is looking forward to. Eccleston and Culshaw are great in their scenes together. Culshaw’s Brigadier is pretty uncanny, although I think he does struggle with the cadences of the older Brigadier but the core of the performance is good enough that I don’t think it is really that much of a problem.

The Cybermen feel like a logical choice of recurring villain to bring back for this finale for the Ninth Doctor, as they are a major foe of the Doctor who were not directly involved in the Time War. Therefore, stories with them don’t risk contradicting or lessening later reveals, both in the Ninth Doctor’s run and in the television series more generally. It wouldn’t make sense for the Ninth Doctor to meet the Master or the Monk, for instance, without it lessening a significant part of his character, and indeed the show’s development of the Doctor since 2005. The Cybermen are held back until quite late in the story, and perhaps having their reveal included on the cover lessens the shock factor when Fiona meets Klein at the end of the story, but I think by having you introduced to him through someone who is not familiar with the Cybermen, the story does build up suspense. Combined with the experienced talents of Nicholas Briggs, Kreel feels sufficiently different and distinct from the usual Cybermen.

Verdict: A confident and well-written story, which makes you care about the characters and builds to an effective cliffhanger and sets up the finale. 10/10

Cast: Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor), Jon Culshaw (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Warren Brown (Sam Bishop), Elinor Lawless (Fiona McCall), Amanda Drew (Commander Jane Wardie), Martin Quinn (Cameron Lawther) & Nicholas Briggs (Cyber-Scout Kreel/The Cybermen).

Writer: Roy Gill

Director: Helen Goldwyn

Composer: Howard Carter

Sound: Iain Meadows

Release Date: 16th February 2022

Behind the Scenes

• The first dramatised meeting of the Ninth Doctor and the Brigadier, although not the first piece of Doctor Who extended media to depict them meeting. A comic called Official Secrets features the Ninth Doctor later in his timeline meeting the Brigadier, when he is travelling with Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness.

Cast Notes

• Jon Culshaw has appeared in a number of Big Finish audio plays, including The Kingmaker (playing the Fourth Doctor), The Kamelion Empire (playing Kamelion) and The Auton Infinity (playing the ‘Tremas’ Master, as well as Kamelion). Since the release of The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 5, Culshaw has also played the Brigadier.
• Warren Brown appeared in the Thirteenth Doctor story Praxeus. In this story, he is reprising his role of Sam Bishop from the Big Finish Modern UNIT series.
• Amanda Drew voiced the Mouri in Once, Upon Time.

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